Anakin's Paradox
by Noggins
Summary: Contains Episode II spoilers! During a fierce battle, Anakin Skywalker finds himself in a future that he never expected in which the galaxy is in a state of civil war and his teacher is now an old man
1. First Impressions

Title: Anakin's Paradox, Part 1  
  
Author: Jonathan Evans  
  
Author email: noggins_evans@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: Contains Episode II spoilers! During a fierce battle,  
Anakin Skywalker finds himself in a future that he never expected  
in which the galaxy is in a state of civil war and his teacher is  
now an old man  
  
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any  
money off of thi nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the   
point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's  
complete with this disclaimer.  
  
Anakin's Paradox  
Part 1  
by Noggins  
  
The lightsabers clashed ferociously in the Geonosian hanger bay as the young Padawan Learner battled valiently against the former Jedi Master. One quick swipe from the firey red blade was deflected just in time but it was slowly becoming apparant that the inexperienced apprentice was being toyed with. The more frustrated he became, the more his anger boiled to the surface. In the corner of his eye he could see his teacher blocked off from the battle taking place, fearful memoris of the past being brought to the surface as he watched his young ally come closer and closer to defeat.  
  
The Padawan suddenly launched another, renewed attack, increasing in speed to the extent that the old man could barely keep up, but instead of being nervous that the upper hand was edging away from him he just smiled. "The anger is brewing in you. Good. Express that anger. Destroy me." The blue lightsaber blade whizzed towards his head with a deafening hum. He ducked easily as it embedded itself in the red stone wall from which the hanger had been carved out of. The young Jedi span around, his eyes filled with sheer hatred. He ran at the last of the Lost Twenty, spinning his weapon in his hand, creating a luminous vortex whiched buzzed with energy. With an agile movement, he launched himself into the air, somersaulting towards the Jedi Master who was taken by surprised for the first time in the entire battle.  
  
The blade came down on him with the speed of a laser bolt yet much more difficult to avoid. The apprentice's breath became deeper and his entire body suddenly became incredible light as time itself seemed to slow down. His vision started to blur and the last thing he heard was his master's voice calling at him from his trapped position.  
"Anakin!!!!"  
  
*********  
  
Anakin Skywalker hit the metal surface with a thud. His enemy had disappeared and it didn't look like he was on Geonosis anymore.As his mind started to clear he noticed everything was made of metal, the walls, the ceilings... everything. He heard a familiar buzz behind him followed by a loud clash of one lightsaber blade impacting with another. He turned around waryingly. "Obi-Wan?"  
  
A tall black figure covered from head to toe in armour and leather was duelling - it was more of a duel than the full-on battle he had just come from - with an old man dressed in Jedi robes. They didn't seem to notice him for several moments and continued to fight until the dark man seemed to sense something. He held his opponent off with his red blade as he turned around. Anakin almost recognised him but didn't have time to dwell on the matter.  
  
He ignited his saber and rushed in to join the old man. With his mind focused, he held out his hand, pushing the black, saber-wielding figure back into the wall. He looked at the elderly Jedi with a grin. "Looks like you can use some help, old guy." He stabbed his weapon through the control panel on the front of the masked villain's armour before pulling it out roughly. He held back was about to go in for the death blow when he felt a hand on his arm. "No!"  
  
Anakin noticed the old man was serious. Several blaster shots came passed his head, only just missing him. He span around to see a legion of white-armoured troops firing on them. He deflected one back before turning to his accidental companion.  
  
"Come on!" They ran out into a huge docking bay. A beat-up old starship awaited and an exit hatch into space could be seen. Anakin wasn't sure why he was here... or how, but he guessed he'd got onto the Federation Control Ship somehow. It seemed familiar enough. He quickly grabbed the other Jedi around his waist and leapt over a large chasm that led into the heart of the hanger. Having hacked down three of the troopers, Anakin headed towards the ship where three humans, a Wookie and two droids were waiting for them.  
  
"Ben!" a young man, around eighteen called out at the sight of the old Jedi Anakin had just rescued. He seemed ecstatic but was quickly brought back down to earth by the somewhat aggressive voice of the other man.  
"Kid, I know you're enjoying this whole emotional reunion but you might have noticed we're being shot at. So how about continuing back on the Falcon!" He pulled out a blaster pistol and took out two of the troopers before running up the boarding ramp with the Wookie who was armed with a bowcaster.  
  
"I do believe Captain Solo's suggestion is most prudent," the golden protocol droid informed the others in a voice that sounded so familiar to Anakin. "Threepio..." he muttered under his breath. 'Ben' turned to him with a frown. "Say nothing," he whispered in reply before moving up the ramp behind the droids and the attractive young woman in white robes. Anakin took one look back at the black armoured figure who was holding his chest plate in agony but remained very much alive before jumping into the bowels of the starship which had already lifted off the ground.  
  
*********  
  
"I sure hope you got that tractor beam off-line, old man," the cocky human questioned Ben from the cockpit. "Otherwise this is gonna be a real short trip."  
"Don't worry captain," the Jedi replied. "I took care of it."  
  
The starship flew out into deep space as the pilot and his Wookie companion set up the hyperspace controls. Anakin stayed in the back with Ben and the younger two humans. "I can't believe how close we came to losing back there," the boy pondered. "We almost died, and took the Rebellion with us!"  
"But we didn't," the girl pointed out. "And that's the most important thing. Anakin saw something familiar in her eyes that reminded him of Padmé who he had left back on Geonosis fighting for her life against the Confederation's droid army. He hit the metal wall loudly. "Damn it!"  
  
The girl finally spoke to him. "Ad you... stranger. I'm not sure where you came from but it seems you saved General Kenobi's life."  
"General K..." Anakin began before he was interrupted by the dusty haired boy.  
"You're a Jedi, right? What's your name?"  
Anakin was about to open his mouth when Ben spoke up. "Qui-Gon... Qui-Gon Jinn... his name is Qui-Gon Jinn. And yes, he's a Jedi too."  
  
The Jedi Apprentice was about to protest when the starship's captain flew through the doors and headed towards the gun ports. "We're not outta this yet! We've got fighters out there headed towards us at high veolcity. I hope one of you two is good with guns!"  
  
Both Anakin and the boy stood up enthusiastically. "I am!" they called out at the same time before glancing angrily at one another. The Padawan Learner suddenly looked towards the cockpit. "I've got another idea."  
  
Anakin ran into the cockpit where the Wookie was trying to avoid the blasts coming from the pursuing fighters. Skywalker jumped instinctively into the seat that the smug pilot had made his own and began issuing orders. "Open a communications link with them!" His furry co-pilot barked an angry reply. "Just do it!"  
  
The girl ran in quickly as soon as she heard Anakin's words. "Are you crazy? Wwe hardly know you and you're expecting us to let you just hand us over to the Empire again?" The young Jedi smiled. She was almost as difficult to deal with as Padmé. "Just trust me," he replied and looked over to the Wookie again who just shrugged and started pressing buttons on the control panel. Anakin leaned towards the microphone and spoke in a commanding tone. "You will not follow us."  
  
The next few seconds seemed to last forever until the Imperial pilot at the other end finally gave a trance-like response. "We will not follow you."  
"You will turn around and return to your base."  
"We will turn around..." the pilot mumbled.  
"And open fire."  
"...open... fire..."  
  
The girl watched the sensor readings in amazment. "They're breaking off and heading back to the Death Star on an attack run!" she exclaimed. "How did you do that?"  
"Tthe Force can have quite an effect on the weak-minded," Anakin grinned back, pleased that the people forced onto him were finally starting to accept his presence. "Or so I've been told."  
  
Ben entered the cockpit and summoned Anakin to come to the back with him. "Sorry gorgeous but I've gotta have a chat with the old guy." He got to his feet and stepped out of the control centre, smiling at the pilot and the boy as he strode passed them. He sat down next to Ben. "So," he asked, "I'm guessing you know where I am. And why did you call me Qui-Gon?"  
  
"Because, my young apprentice, it could have disasterous consequences if they were to know who you really were."  
"Appren..." Anakin suddenly realised who the elderly man he was talking to was and his entire world seemed to fall apart. "Obi-Wan?"  
  
Kenobi nodded. Another time he would have smiled at his student's reaction but that time ended over twenty years earlier. Skywalker finally spoke again, his voice stuttering. "But you're so old... How? Why?"  
  
Obi-Wan scratched his white beard. "It is rather odd," he mused. "I do not remember you ever disappearing... and it could not have effected the timeline so much that Vad..." he stopped himself suddenly and took a new tact. "What was the last thing you remember?"  
  
Anakin sighed as he thought back. "I was fighting Dooku... you'd been separated from the battle..." Obi-Wan nodded as he remembered this happened decades before but for Anakin it was less than an hour. "He was taunting me, I got angry and was about to cut him to pieces..." he stopped to calm himself down before resuming his tale. "..when I got dizzy. Everything around me seemed to slow down then go white and I found myself back on that... what did that girl call it? Death Star?"  
  
Getting slowly to his feet, and feeling his bones cracking with age in the process, Kenobi began to pace the room. He was obviously agitated and seemed to know what had happened - or had at least made an educated guess. "The Dark Side was growing in you, Anakin," he explained as best he could. "It was elevated because of your anger that you created a pathway to another time... another place... you truly are powerful, my apprentice, but that power is dangerous. You know that now."  
"Yes master." Then came the ultimate question. "How do I get back?"  
  
Obi-Wan's weather-worn face gave a blank expression. "I honestly don't know... but somehow I feel that neither of us should be here. I should have died back there... I was meant to sacrifice myself."  
"But why?"  
"To save Luke... the boy."  
  
Anakin looked over to the cockpit where the topic of their discussion was arguing with the pilot and the girl. He turned back to his teacher. "But why? I grant you, the Force is with him but he's no Jedi. The Council would not permit his training. They were opposed to mine when he I nine... but he's far too old."  
"Until you arrived he was the last hope for the Jedi Order." Obi-Wan decided he had to tell Anakin something about what during the years his apprentice missed even if he had to be a little liveral with the truth. "The Council is gone. The Jedi have been systematically wiped out by the Empire that formed from the ashes of the Republic and the Sith lord you almost killed back there."  
  
An empty feeling suddenly flowed through Skywalker's body. "The Jedi are gone?"  
"I'm afraid so."  
"Killed by that guy in the black armour?"  
"Yes."  
"And you're the only survivor."  
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No. Yoda still lives but he is in hiding."  
"In hiding?" Anakin couldn't help but smiled. "Everyone's favourite holier-than-thou Jedi master in hiding from a guy who thinks he's a droid?" His face suddenly dropped. "He must be powerful in the dark side... and have links to the Jedi..."  
"You could say that."  
  
Skywalker got to his feet again and joined Obi-Wan in his pacing. "Mace Windu! It has to be!" he exclaimed. "I never trusted him! He never liked me."  
"You must calm yourself, Anakin. Or your anger will be your downfall..." his voice trailed off as the girl entered the room. "I'd better see how the boys are. Don't say anything."  
  
Once Obi-Wan had disappeared into the cockpit, Anakin joined the girl. She seemed so angry, but at the same time so sad. "What's your name?" he asked.  
"Leia..." she replied. "Leia Organa. And you're... Qui-Gon, right?"  
"Uh, yeah. Organa, huh? Old Bail's daughter? How is he doing?" Tears started rolling down Leia's cheeks and Anakin realised he'd said the wrong thing. "I'm so sorry. Is he...?"  
She nodded. "Along with everyone else on Alderaan. Because I couldn't get back to the Rebellion in time..."  
  
Anakin put his arm around her... it just felt the right thing to do. "You're not alone, you know."  
She looked up. "You've lost your family too?"  
"I never knew my father and my mother died... not long ago." He looked down. "I still... I still haven't recovered. I know it was my fault... if I hadn't left to train as a Jedi..."  
"Being a Jedi in this time is not a bad thing..." Leia stated before she asked the question that had been on her mind for some time. "How did you come to be on the Death Sstar? And who trained you?"  
"I still haven't worked out the first one," Anakin said with a sigh. "And it seems old 'Ben' back there was my teacher. I guess I haven't seen him in a long time... he's changed a lot." He stopped himself, heeding the advice Obi-Wan gave him. He couldn't reveal too much... and it wasn't as if he knew all that much anyway. "Where are we heading?"  
  
"The fourth moon of Yavin. The Rebellion has a base there."  
"Rebellion?" Anakin asked. "I've been meaning to ask... what is this Rebellion?"  
"A movement that's fighting the oppression of Palpatine's Empire," Leia replied, sending a chill down Anakin's spine when she uttered Palpatine's name. "You really have been out of it haven't you, Qui-Gon... What happened to you?"  
"Like I said, I don't know... I can't explain yet."  
  
"Well, if General Kenobi trusts you then so do I," Leia replied as she moved her hand up to touch Anakin's. "The sooner the Jedi can return the better. You've already saved our lives at least once today..." Her head moved closer to the young Jedi's, her eyes closed. He realised she looked so much like Padmé as her lips came closer to his own. Their fingers entwined as their mouths finally touched. There was a moment where time seemed to stand still until a familiar bleeping sound stopped them both. Anakin turned quickly to see Artoo Detoo nudging his leg slightly. "Artoo?" he asked until he noticed the droid behind him for the second time. "Threepio!?!" He pulled himself further away from Leia as the guilt set in. Not long ago, from his point of view, he had seen Padmé having put the plates onto this droid and now, with her out of the way he was about to kiss some girl he'd never met before on the pretense they were "familiar". He turned to see Leia looking guiltily into her lap. "I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have..."  
"Neither should I... should we just leave it to, uh, a lesson learnt?"  
"Sounds like a plan," Anakin replied, mesmirised by Artoo, his old droid who, it seemed, had stayed with Obi-Wan after all this time. Threepio, now possessing shiny gold body plates, could have been any protocol droid but Anakin knew him straight away - he had built him, after all.  
  
"You don't know me, do you?" he asked.  
"I can't say that I do, Master Qui-Gon, sir," the gold droid responded, leaving Skywalker feeling somewhat dejected until R2-D2 chirped loudly. "But my companion here seems to believe that he does. I'm not sure where he gets such notions."  
"At least someone hasn't changed," the young Jedi smiled.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED..... 


	2. Close Encounters Before The Battle

Title: Anakin's Paradox, Part 2  
  
Author: Jonathan Evans  
  
Author email: noggins_evans@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: Contains Episode II spoilers! During a fierce battle, Anakin  
Skywalker finds himself in a future that he never expected in which  
the galaxy is in a state of civil war and his teacher is now an old man  
  
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any  
money off of thi nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the   
point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's  
complete with this disclaimer.  
  
Anakin's Paradox  
Part 2 - Close Encounters Before The Battle  
by Noggins  
  
The starship, called the Millennium Falcon, as Anakin had discovered from it's captain Han Solo, had landed in the hanger of a Rebel base located in the middle of the lush green jungle world that was Yavin IV and everyone had slowly departed. Obi-Wan did his best to keep Anakin away from Luke but that had only led to the two teenagers to get more than a little suspicious of one another.  
  
They eyed each other up carefully as they entered the briefing room where a Rebel commander told them about the Death Star station and how it could be destroyed with a well placed proton torpedo in a seemingly tiny exhaust port. After the speech was finished, Anakin just shrugged it off. "Sounds easy enough," he mused.  
  
A young hotshot pilot turned to him with a shocked expression on his face. "You're joking right?" he choked. "Didn't you hear what he said. The port's only two metres wide! That kind of target's impossible, even for a computer." He honestly couldn't believe that Anakin was so blasé about it until Luke spoke up. He even caught the young Jedi's attention as he stood up to face the ranks of battle-hardened Rebel pilots who had seen more service than he ever could.  
  
His voice was filled with confidence as he spoke. "It's not impossible. I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-sixteen back home. They're not much bigger than two meters." Anakin smiled at the boy who seemed to appreciate the first compliment he had received from the mysterious stranger. "Thanks," he replied to the unspoken words.  
  
The general closed down the computer screen that showed the schematics of the Death Star and addressed the pilots one last time. "Man your ships," he said. "And may the Force be with you." As the pilots slowly crawled out of the small room, Anakin noticed Leia chatting to the Rebel leader. Using his ability to sense emotions he could tell she wasn't confident about a victory. He walked towards them both.  
  
"...it's really a matter of hope," the general told her. "They have to believe there can be a victory or we really would have no hope."  
"But it really is a losing battle. What hope do we have?"  
"The Skywalker boy seems to be quite confident he could make the shot, but I don't want to risk putting him in the advance squadren. Garven Dreis is the most experienced pilot we have. He *could* do it."  
"But your not sure? Maybe Skywalker should..."  
  
Leia turned to see Anakin closing in on them then stop suddenly the moment she uttered Luke's name. She looked concerned as she addressed him. "Qui-Gon... What's wrong?"  
"You... you said Skywalker," Anakin stuttered, still suffering from the shock. "Surely you didn't mean that kid... Luke?"  
"That's right... Luke Skywalker. He joined General Kenobi on Tatooine. I think that's where he's from."  
  
Without saying anymore words, Anakin ran out of the briefing room and into the corridor. He quickly caught up with Luke who was heading towards the pilot's changing rooms where he was about to be decked out in the bright orange uniform of the Rebel Gold and Red Sqaudrens. "Hey! Hey!" he called. "Luke!"  
  
Luke turned around to face him, still a little supiscious. "What?" he asked, almost aggressively. "What is it?"  
"I heard Leia call you Skywalker... is that really your name?"  
"Yeah," the former farmboy replied, eyeing Anakin carefully. "What about it?"  
"Your father... is he... is he still alive?"  
Luke shook his head but seemed agitated by this upstart Jedi who arrived on the scene only to be seemingly considered more highly by Obi-Wan. "No. Ben told me he was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader... before I was born."  
  
Anakin suddenly felt light-headed as he fell back into the wall, which was the only that prevented him from collapsing on the floor. Luke grabbed his arm to stabilise him. "What? What's wrong?"  
"Your father was killed?"  
"Yes. That's what I said." There was anger in Luke's eyes as he felt his private life was being intruded on by this 'Qui-Gon Jinn.'  
"By the Force... I... I..." He suddenly took off again, back the way he had already come and in the direction of the quarters that Obi-Wan had been assigned. He punched the wall as he stormed up the corridor before finally realising that the last time he did that had resulted in breaking two of his knuckles. In all the excitement he hadn't even noticed! He stopped and slammed his palms, followed by his head, into sleek durasteel panels that the walls of the base were made up of.  
  
A hand on his shoulder made him turn around. It was Leia and she seemed concerned. "What's wrong?" she asked ever-so-slightly carefully. Anakin turned around slowly and calmly but his heart was beating and his palms sweating. He didn't even notice his was shaking until Leia took his hands in hers. "What's wrong?" she asked again, this time with even more affection.  
  
"Nothing!" Anakin snapped as he pulled away violently and paced to the other side of the corridor to begin punching the walls again. For the second time Leia grabbed him in order to stop him damaging himself. He pulled his hands away again. "Get off me! You don't know me! You don't know me! You just don't know!!!"  
  
"Well, if that's your attitude!" she replied stubbornly and turned on her heels to start to walk away. Before she had got less than five metres away from him he called after her. She moved around slowly to see the sheer sorrow in his eyes.  
"Don't go," he whispered. "Your... your presence is soothing."  
  
The Alderaanian princess came back to him and he wrapped his arms around her. His head nestled in her shoulder he started to break down. "Why? Why? Why didn't he tell me?"  
"Who? Tell you what?" Leia asked, pulling him away so she could look in his eyes. She was suddenly mesmirised by his blue eyes which reminded her of the calming pools back on her home planet that she used to bathe in. She moved her hand up to stroke his cheek. "You can tell me..."  
  
"Not here..." Anakin muttered, taking her hand and pulling her out of the main corridor into a small, dark cul-de-sac that no one ever entered. He leaned back onto the wall and sighed deeply. "Obi-Wan..." he began to explain. "He lied to me about... something important. It was something I should have known but he didn't tell me."  
  
Leia noticed that beneath his rough, cocky exterior there was an emotionally scarred, vulnerable individual. The stranger seemed to encapsulate all the best qualities of Han, Luke and herself and she began to be afraid that she was falling for him. "What should he have told you?"  
  
Looking at Leia, Anakin saw not only intelligence, integrity and leadership skills of Padmé but also the nurturing, caring, loving side that he had missed during the last ten years of his training and would never see again now that his mother was gone. As he felt her hand in his he began to worry that he was falling for her. "About my future... my past... it's hard to explain. I'm not an ordinary Jedi."  
  
"Oh, I noticed that," Leia half-smiled as she moved closer to him, her fingers trailing up his arm and down his chest before finally wrapping around his waist. He cocked his head to the side as his lips began to meet hers. With one effortless motion, he took her into his arms and they kissed passionately. Neither had experienced anything like this before as their entire world span into a frenzied whirlpool. Leia pushed Anakin against the wall as their bodies embraced.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity they broke apart, both breathing heavily. Leia held Anakin's hands tightly as she giggled like the girl who was barely out of her teens that she really was. "Oh, Qui-Gon..." she muttered. "If only we had more time..."  
"Time..." Anakin whispered in reply. "...is not as linear as you think. We could have forever."  
"But we can't! The Rebellion! The Empire! We know the Death Star is heading towards this planet as we speak." She quickly moved forward to kiss him again before pulling back to continue her explanation. "We don't know if we can survive this but even if we do I don't know what we can do. As much as I want to, I can't give into this. I can't throw my life away while the Rebellion continues. I have more important things to do than fall in love."  
"That's what they always say, Leia!"  
"But it's true! Even if we do defeat the Death Star the Empire will continue to exist."  
  
Anakin stood up straight and tall. "Then we have to make it fall while we still have a chance... then maybe it could work."  
"Gods, I wish it could be that easy, Qui-Gon."  
Anakin still hadn't got used to people calling him that. He wanted to tell her his real name so much but it would only confuse things even more. He had so much of a connection with Leia... he couldn't explain it but he didn't want to risk losing it. He kissed her one more time before heading towards the main corridor. "I'm getting on one of the fighters, I'm gonna blow that thing sky-high then I'm coming back to be with you!" Their hands parted as Anakin darted off towards the hanger where the T-65s were being prepared for take-off, leaving Leia watching him leave, her mind confused with love and duty.  
  
********  
  
As the Jedi apprentice neared the doorway to the hanger he sensed a fellow Force-user present. He span around to see Obi-Wan waiting for him with a stern expression on his face. "What do you think you're doing, Anakin?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I know what's going through your mind. You must understand it isn't possible."  
"Really? You said you didn't know how I could get back so maybe I should make the best of it. Leia's a great girl... I don't know how but without even knowing her there's something between us..."  
"I think, my young apprentice," Obi-Wan began slowly as he put his arm around Anakin to speak to him privately, "we need to discuss some important matters..." 


	3. Regrets and Assaults

Title: Anakin's Paradox, Part 3  
  
Author: Jonathan Evans  
  
Author email: noggins_evans@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: Contains Episode II spoilers! During a fierce battle, Anakin  
Skywalker finds himself in a future that he never expected in which  
the galaxy is in a state of civil war and his teacher is now an old man  
  
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any  
money off of thi nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the   
point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's  
complete with this disclaimer.  
  
Anakin's Paradox  
Part 3 - Regrets and Assaults  
by Noggins  
  
"You have got to be kidding me!" Anakin shouted, perhaps too loudly, as he heard Obi-Wan's explanation of why he and Leia couldn't possibly become an item even if he really was trapped in this strange parallel future. His duty as a Jedi was the reason he expected, or even her duty as a Rebel leader... but not this. "My daughter! Oh my God!"  
  
Obi-Wan nodded. "I think you now appreciate the problem..." he muttered quietly as he signalled for Anakin to lower his own voice. "She cannot find out... the Empire may have spies everywhere... if Vader were to find out about her..."  
  
That was it! This was why this all happened in the first place! He snapped again at his Jedi master. "He'd do what? Kill her like he killed her father... like he killed me!" Kenobi looked dumbstruck. "That's right! I know! Why didn't you tell me that I was meant to die! By the Sith Lord I had a chance to defeat not six hours ago!"  
"Who told you this?" Obi-Wan quickly asked.  
"Luke... my own son!" Anakin brushed his hair back, feeling he needed to keep his hands occupied lest he ignite his lightsaber and hack everything in the corridor to pieces. "My own son, who doesn't even know who I am, told me that I'm destined to be killed if I travel back... hell, if you look at this from your point of view, I've already been killed!"  
  
"That's another thing I was, well, a little liberal with the truth about..." Kenobi began. "Something that I could not tell Luke, least of all you." He looked down to the floor shamefully before facing his apprentice again. "You're not dead, Anakin. Far from it. A worse fate befell you."  
"Worse than death? What can be worse than finding out you're going to be killed by some Sith Lord you've never even met before. A Sith Lord who's more machine than man!?!"  
"Anakin... you *are* that Sith Lord."  
  
Everything began to spin around again. Anakin was about to collapse under the stress that Obi-Wan had just forced on him. His master grabbed him and kept him on his feet but strained a little as he realised his age had got to him. Anakin got his breath and bearings back as he looked around at a world that had suddenly become more strange and perverse than it appeared when he first arrived. The words he wanted to speak couldn't form... his entire body seemed paralysed by shock.  
  
Obi-Wan answered the question his apprentice could not ask. "As I said when we were on the ship," he said in a quiet voice, "the Dark Side was growing in you at the point you left your point in the timeline. After the battle on Geonosis it continued to manifest itself in you. You turned your back on the Jedi Order... You got too close to Palpatine who we didn't realise was the current Dark Lord of the Sith. Seducing you away from the light was easy by that point. I tried to confront you... but I could not save you. By the end of the battle you were barely alive. Palpatine resurrected you as 'Darth Vader'."  
  
"So you left me for dead?" Anakin asked as the fires burned in his eyes. "And he turned me... what about Padmé?"  
"She's dead, Anakin. She died not long after your turn. I brought your son to Tatooine for Owen to look after while Bail Organa took care of Leia as if she were his own. You didn't know about them... but the grief of losing you was too much for your wife."  
  
What was left of Anakin's life had been shattered with that last words that Obi-Wan spoke. "What do I do, master?" he asked with sorry in his eyes. It was as if he had given up on everything... life, hope, the Force... "Please... tell me. What do I do?"  
  
Obi-Wan put his hand on Anakin's shoulder. "I don't know. I wish I did. I don't believe you will be able to return. Time continued to exist as it was meant to even after you arrived here." Kenobi sighed. "If you had got back you would have remembered everything that you were told here and would have been able to stop your own fall... The fact that this hasn't happened leads me to believe that you are trapped."  
  
"I'm glad you're trying to remain positive," Skywalker snapped. "Well, if I'm here as myself and as this 'Vader' then maybe I was split in two. Part of me remained... and became a Sith while the other arrived just in time to save your life."  
  
"When you weren't meant to," his teacher interrupted. He motioned for Anakin to follow him. "Come, we must make preparations to leave in case the attack fails. The Jedi must survive." He turned back to see Anakin entering the hanger. "Where are you going?"  
  
"I'm going to make sure we don't fail!" he called back. "The Force is with me... I promised Leia I would destroy the Death Star and I'm going to fulfil that promise if it's the last thing I do!" And with those words he disappeared from Obi-Wan's sight. The old Jedi master chose not to follow. Anakin had made his decision... from this point on his destiny was in his own hands.  
  
*************  
  
As Anakin entered the hanger where the Incom T-65 vehicles were being fuelled he noticed Luke and Han having an argument. The boy stormed off angrily as Solo gave a mocking "may the Force be with you" to him. Anakin frowned but moved on to join his son who was talking to another man, slightly older than him, who was dressed in the pilot's uniform.  
  
"Luke! I don't believe it! How'd you get here...are you going out with us?!" the dark haired man called out as Luke turned around to see him. They both seemed to know each other well as they embraced. They both looked pleased to see each other and Anakin felt a little wary about interrupting this reunion. As he approached them a tall, rugged pilot in his forties pushed passed. He turned and apologised to Anakin before addressing Luke.  
  
"Are you...Luke Skywalker? Have you been checked out on the Incom T-sixty-five?" he asked before other other man, Biggs, reassured him that Skywalker was more than capable of handling himself. The squadren leader seemed most impressed. "I met your father once when I was just a boy, he was a great pilot. You'll do all right. If you've got half of your father's skill, you'll do better than all right."  
  
Upon hearing this Anakin could not help but feel the ego boost. He joined in, resting himself on Luke's back. The farmboy turned around and pushed him away. "Hey!" he snapped as his father grinned.  
"Where do I get one of these uniforms?" he asked. "I think it's time I got back into the cockpit. It feels like forever since I got some airtime. Well, maybe not forever. Say, twenty or so years." Luke looked at him suspiciously but Anakin kept the smile on his face. "What? What did I say?"  
  
The leader pointed out a metal storage cupboard on the far side of the hanger where several other pilots were donning helmets that would help them survive if they were forced to eject during the battle. Anakin thanked 'Red Leader' and walked off. He was stopped before he had even made on step. The middle-aged pilot looked at him carefully. "Do I know you?"  
  
"Let's just say the kid there's got half my skills," he winked as he walked off leaving the other man somewhat confused. Anakin wasn't sure what was going to happen from this point on but what the hell... at least he'd enjoy himself before he went. He looked at the bright orange uniform and grimaced before just taking a helmet. If he'd coped in a space battle with just one of these when he was nine he could do it again now.  
  
He walked towards an X-wing into which Artoo was being carefully lowered and started to climb up the steps to see how his old droid was when he realised Luke was tugging at him. "Hey! This is my fighter!"  
"Really?" retorted Anakin. "I don't see your name on it."  
  
"I don't know who you are, but you're really annoying me." He pulled Anakin down from the X-wing and poked him in the chest aggressively. "You just appear from nowhere and expect us to trust you like Ben seems to. Then you start asking questions about my father... personal questions which I don't like to talk about..." He pushed Anakin back before his father replied with an even more violent shove. Luke continued, "then you start acting like you're someone I know before trying to steal my fighter! I don't know, I don't particularly want to know you. If I didn't know better I'd swear you were here just to punish me for something!"  
  
"You want punishment?" Anakin shouted in reply. "How about suffering what I have to!"  
"Suffer? You? Why? Because Leia rejected you? That's what I heard. Welcome to the club."  
This was the last straw. "Rejected me? Somehow I don't think saw. You should have seen us back in that corridor. Believe me, she didn't reject me! Maybe you should get your facts together before you go spreading malicious rumours..." Before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted by Luke's fist flying towards his face. He sensed it just in time and moved out of the way. The boy's hand collided with the metal hull of the X-wing. Anakin grabbed him and pushed him into a nearby wall, his hand wrapped around his throat. "Don't even think about it. I'm a Jedi... I know when people are trying to mess me around." He released Luke and pulled back. "If only you knew the truth! Obi-Wan doesn't even trust you with the real knowledge of your father!"  
  
Luke moved away from the wall, rubbing his neck. "What do you mean?"  
"Your father isn't dead. Far from it."  
"Then where is he?"  
"By my calculations, he's on the huge battle station heading towards us as we speak."  
"What?!?"  
"Darth Vader is your father!"  
"I don't belive you! Your'e lying!"  
"Believe what you want, Luke. I don't really care." Anakin frowned as he turned around to walk away. "Funny really... I always thought I'd get along with you. I guess we're too similar."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Thanks to a bit of a mistake in the timelines you've got two fathers!"  
"You're mad!" Luke spat.  
"You want to know why I appeared from nowhere? You want to know why?"  
"Why?"  
"I'm your father too!"  
  
Anakin stormed off and jumped into the X-wing into which Artoo had been firmly connected. He closed the canopy and began to the take-off sequence, pressing buttons on the front console. They were a lot like some of the fighters he had used back in his own time and so he understood the lay out pretty quickly. After putting his helmet on he glanced out of the window to see Luke hopping into a spare X-wing and doing the same. They both stared daggers at each other before flying out of the hanger.  
  
All that could be be seen of the fortress was a lone Rebel guard standing on a small pedestal jutting out above the dense Yavin jungle. The muted gruesome crying sounds that naturally permeated the eerie forests were overwhelmed by the thundering din of ion rockets as a squadren of battle-ready starships catapulted from the foliage in a tight formation and disappeared into the morning cloud cover.  
  
Anakin adjusted his weapons as he entered the atmosphere which shook his fighter slightly but he managed to adjust it to make the ride a lot easier. As they got into space they could see the Death Star slowly moving behind the massive yellow surface of Yavin in the foreground, as they flew in formation towards it. The squadren leader organised a roll call that went through each of the pilots. Anakin checked his read-out screen before identifying himself. "Red Five standing by." Several seconds later he heard Luke's agitated voice. "Red Eleven standing by."  
  
"Lock S-foils in attack positions..." the voice over the intercom ordered and within seconds the Rebel fleet were battle ready. "We're passing through the magnetic field!" they were warned as the starfighters shuddered again. Anakin held on tight... it wasn't that different to his attack on the Federation Control Ship just this time he couldn't get inside the docking bay. He carefully scanned the surface of the Death Star as they moved in on the turbolasers which he knew would open fire within seconds.  
  
"Let's do it!" he shouted into his speaker so that everyone in the squadren could hear him. He pushed the control stick forward, his thumb hovering just above the laser controls and began the attack run. 


	4. Unnerving Relationships

Title: Anakin's Paradox, Part 4  
  
Author: Jonathan Evans  
  
Author email: noggins_evans@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: Contains Episode II spoilers! During a fierce battle, Anakin  
Skywalker finds himself in a future that he never expected in which  
the galaxy is in a state of civil war and his teacher is now an old man  
  
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any  
money off of thi nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the   
point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's  
complete with this disclaimer.  
  
Anakin's Paradox  
Part 4 - Unnerving Relationships  
by Noggins  
  
Obi-Wan entered the control centre of the Rebel base on Yavin where General Dodonna and Leia were waiting in preparation for the attack on the Death Star to begin. The old Jedi master noticed a computer screen that displayed how close the huge battle station was as various officers ran around issuing orders to anyone who got in their way. Leia looked up to see Kenobi walk in and motioned for him to join her in a quiet corner. He nodded and followed.  
  
"What's wrong with Qui-Gon?" she asked. "I heard from one of the techs that he got into a fight with Luke. Can you tell me why? What's wrong with him. I... I don't understand him... but I want to."  
"I recommend that you not concern yourself with my apprentice and his actions," Kenobi told her sternly. "He has an important task to play and..."  
"Not concern myself with him?" Leia exclaimed. "With all due respect, General Kenobi, but I what do you mean? I know you Jedi have special powers but I'd rather you didn't pry into my feelings for Qui-Gon."  
"Ah," Obi-Wan mused. "So you do have feelings for him..."  
"As a matter of fact yes I do. I can't explain it but we... we have some kind of connection... I barely know him but... I think I love him." She looked bravely into Obi-Wan's eyes. "Maybe you Jedi have some code against it but I care for him."  
Kenobi replied almost coldly. "Then maybe you can tell him that if and when he returns from the battle out there. I believe he may have a completely different point of view now."  
  
Obi-Wan turned to join the general at the control panels when Leia grabbed him and turned him around angrily. "What do you mean by that? Have you turned him against me? Why? What have I done to you?" Until this point he had his doubts about stopping this relationship developing. Maybe it was wrong, immoral... but technically the Anakin currently piloting an X-wing towards the Death Star *wasn't* Leia's father. Her father was Darth Vader - the man about to attempt to destroy the Rebellion's hopes of returning peace. The more he thought about it the more logical it seemed to let them do what they wanted but then he saw the fire in her eyes. She really was Anakin's child and it had to come to an end.  
  
"What I mean, princess, is that there is more of a 'connection' between you two than you think," he tried to leave again but for the second time she yanked him around. His back couldn't put up with this much longer. When he looked at Leia she seemed more distressed than angry this time. Now she was just like Padmé. Obi-Wan started to feel faint. "I... I'm sorry... I've got to go."  
  
Running out into the corridor, Obi-Wan began to remember everything that led up to this point. He'd failed to train Anakin... to instruct him properly. When he should have told him that his relationship with the Senator Amidala was wrong he just let it happen. And how did that end? With Anakin falling to the Dark Side of the Force. If he'd been stronger, maybe things would have been different. Now he'd been given a second chance and he was making the same mistakes all over again. He began to doubt whether true insight came with old age. He realised someone else was with him. It was Leia.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked. "It must be serious. My father told me all about you but he never said you were like this..."  
"Like what? Guilt-stricken?" Kenobi nodded. "Believe me, Bail didn't know everything. Only a few people did. When the Jedi were still powerful I had a most important task... it was my duty to train the Chosen One... the one who was prophesised to bring balance to the living Force."  
  
Leia watched the grief drain away as he confessed what appeared to be everything. "You failed?" she asked.  
Kenobi nodded. "He was lost to the Dark Side. He was filled with anger and emotion... emotion that was made stronger by his feelings for the woman who would become his wife." He sighed and then continued. "The Jedi Council felt that this should be stopped - it was written in the Code that a Jedi should not be wed for a reason. Emotion makes one susceptible to the Dark Side, but the more they tried to show him this the more rebellious he became... until the evil enveloped him completely."  
  
The young princess seemed to understand what he meant. "And you don't want the same to happen to Qui-Gon?" She could tell from the Jedi's reaction that she was right. "You think that I could cause him to... 'fall' as you put it? I... I really don't know how that could be possible. Love is such a positive feeling I can't see how it could lead to evil."  
  
"You will discover that many things are not as they appear to be, young lady," Obi-Wan informed her as he made his way back towards the control centre. "And I do not wish to lose him again... that is, I don't wish to lose him as I lost Vader." He turned away from Leia in the hopes she would not notice his error. Thankfully she didn't but she remained persistent in her argument.  
  
"If he doesn't want to be with me I think it should be his decision to make, not yours," she replied somewhat calmly. "If his Jedi training is important... and I have no doubt that it is, given that your Order has been reduced to just the two of you... then I will leave him be. However..."  
  
"...if he wishes to continue this affair it is his choice?" the old Jedi master completed her sentence. "I agree. But if the consequences are as I fear then you would do best not to force him into making that decision." Leia grimaced but knew what he was saying made sense. She couldn't coerce her new lover into choosing her just as Kenobi couldn't force him into choosing the Force. It was up to him but she feared from Obi-Wan's words previously that he already had. He began to guide her forward. "I think we should return to the command centre. The attack run is about to take place..." 


	5. Heroes and Villains

Title: Anakin's Paradox, Part 5  
  
Author: Jonathan Evans  
  
Author email: noggins_evans@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: Contains Episode II spoilers! During a fierce battle, Anakin  
Skywalker finds himself in a future that he never expected in which  
the galaxy is in a state of civil war and his teacher is now an old man  
  
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any  
money off of thi nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the   
point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's  
complete with this disclaimer.  
  
Anakin's Paradox  
Part 5 - Heroes and Villains  
by Noggins  
  
The squaron of X-wing and Y-wing fighters headed towards the huge Death Star battle station. It was as big as a small moon and could clearly be seen from the surface of Yavin IV which made its presence all the more intimidating. Almost all of the pilots got close to trembling with fear as they approached the target of their attack all except for two in particular.  
  
Anakin Skywalker controlled his X-wing with ease and seemed calm but inside him he was angrier than he ever had been before. Angry at himself, at Obi-Wan and at his own son who was flying his own fighter just behind him in the close-knit formation they had found themselves in. Anakin kept thinking about how he had left Padmé back on Geonosis and how Obi-Wan had told her she was destined to die no matter what happened... that she was already dead. Then he started to flirt with the woman who turned out to be his own daughter - a fact which Obi-Wan had conveniently kept hidden from him. Then there was Luke...  
  
The blonde haired farmboy turned good glanced through the glass cockpit window at the fighter that should have been his own. It was now being flown by a crazy Jedi who claimed he was his father and who Ben Kenobi had suddenly taken a liking to. After their heated argument back on Yavin Luke was becoming angrier and was fighting the urge to open fire on the Jedi who he had been told was called Qui-Gon Jinn.  
  
"Look at the size of that thing," one of the pilots exlaimed as they got closer to the surface of the Death Star which seemed so much bigger the closer you were to it - almost unnaturaly so. Anakin gripped the control stick as he sped ahead of the rest of the group.  
  
A voice called out over his intercom. "What are trying to Red Five?" it exclaimed. Anakin ignored it and got closer to the trench. Just seconds before it erupted, Anakin sensed that laserfire was about to engulf him. He switch his shields on full-front as the turbo-lasers mounted along the edge of the canal-like trench opened fire. He took the brunt of it before pressing the switch to activate his cannons.  
  
Guided by the Force, all of Anakin's shots hit their targets, blowing them to pieces before the rest of the squaron could arrive to get him out of trouble. "Just dealing with this little problem for you all," he spoke into his helmet-mounted microphone. "Didn't look like any of you guys could see it coming." He admitted to himself that that was a half-lie. He didn't expect the onslaught to occur but he had made the jobs of the other pilots a lot easier.  
  
"You could've got us killed with that stunt!" Luke called out to him.  
"Believe me when I say I know how to pilot a starfighter, my friend!" Anakin retorted, sarcasm in his voice as he referred to Luke as 'friend'. He entered the trench, followed by the pilots taking part in first attack run. "I've actually been in the cockpit of one before, unlike you." He rushed passed the huge metal walls at a hellish speed reminding of his days as a podracer, moving through the Tatooine canyons and gorges. He turned his attention to further turbolaser mountings which he started to blast away. One caught him by surprise, hitting the top canopy. "That was close. You okay, Artoo?" he asked his droid.  
  
He opened fire on the surface of the Death Star, ripping the bottom of the trench to shreds with a burst of flame. He pulled up just enough to avoid it before heading back on his original course. "Come on, join me down here!" he called to the Rebel pilots. "The weather's great down here!" He could barely hear his own voice over the sound of his engines and the laser blasts which erupted all around him.  
  
Red Leader's X-wing came down just in front of him and took the lead once again. "Hey!" the young Jedi exclaimed but go no reply as the squaron leader began to issue orders to everyone as they got into the well-orchestrated attack which had been distrupted by Anakin's actions. He was about to say more when he felt a slight tremor in the Force. He looked at his sensors to see that three X-wings had been destroyed by the cannons as they tried to enter the artificial canyon.  
  
"Maybe you should get out and let me take care of this," he told Red Leader. "The Force is with me. I can make the shot and we'll get of here in three minutes tops."  
  
"You shouldn't be so proud of yourself, my apprentice..." Obi-Wan's voice ordered Anakin over the speakers.  
"But it's true, master. You know it as well as I do that I could make this shot."  
"And at the same time your arrogance could risk the lives of the other pilots. Be calm and if you wish to take part in this do as your are ordered."  
"Are you trying to treat my like a child?" Anakin snapped. "Just like you did when you forgot to tell me about my own offspring? Thanks for your advice, master... but no thanks." He switched off his connection to the command centre and looked ahead.  
  
*********  
  
In the central part of the control centre, settled around a computer that caught the attention of anyone in the room, Leia looked up at Obi-Wan. He didn't seem to notice at first but finally turned to look at her. "His offspring?" she asked. "He has children? This wasn't about him falling to the Dark Side like you said... does... does he have a wife?"  
"Time is a complicated thing," the Jedi said cryptically before continuing to gaze at the screen.  
  
*********  
  
Luke was the first to notice the Imperial TIE fighters coming in on their location. A Y-wing fighter was blown to pieces by two which had ganged up on it before heading for the rest of the group. The young farmboy flicked on the speakers so that he could speak to the others before it was too late. His palms were sweating under the gloves and his voiuce trembled as he first spoke. "We've got incoming fighters!"  
  
Anakin checked the sensor readings and frowned. "This'll complicate things," he muttered. 


	6. Conclusions

Title: Anakin's Paradox, Part 6  
  
Author: Jonathan Evans  
  
Author email: noggins_evans@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: Contains Episode II spoilers! During a fierce battle, Anakin  
Skywalker finds himself in a future that he never expected in which  
the galaxy is in a state of civil war and his teacher is now an old man  
  
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any  
money off of thi nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the   
point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's  
complete with this disclaimer.  
  
Anakin's Paradox  
Part 6 - Conclusions  
by Noggins  
  
The Imperial TIE fighters screamed overhead as the Y-Wings that were making the first attack run on the Death Star were blasted to pieces. Anakin covered his eyes as Red Leader's fighter separated into millions of shards of light that travelled far into space, driven by the force of the explosion. The young Jedi knew something was wrong. He could sense a familiar presence that was coming for them... for him.  
  
"Something's coming. Look at your scanners. Mark one-two-zero-three." a voice echoed over the intercom. Anakin pressed several keys on his control panel and looked at the screen. Three more fighters had emerged from the Death Star. The one in the centre differed from the two flanking it and at that moment Anakin knew that this was what he was most dreading.  
  
"What's the middle one?" he asked. "It's different."  
"I hadn't noticed, Red Five," the original voice replied. "Looks like some kind of experimental craft. But who'd be flying it?"  
"I think I know!" Anakin replied. "Continue the attack run. Don't come after me." He took one last look at the scanner then turned off the intercom. His gloved hands tightened over the control stick as he pulled it back hard, his X-Wing looping around and heading for the pursuing fighters.  
  
He took one last look at Luke as he flew passed him in the opposite direction. Somewhere deep down he wished he could have got to know him more but the fact remained, if Darth Vader still existed here, the farmboy wasn't really his son. His Jedi training never dealt with things like this. Time and alternate dimensions and paradoxes had nothing to do with Force... at least he'd though so until Obi-Wan offered him a theory for his being here. The explosion of the dark side within him. But why hadn't it happened before? With the Tuskens?  
  
His thoughts came back to the present as he headed towards the three fighters heading towards the Death Star trench. They'd noticed him just as he was within firing distance. Laserfire flew passed his cockpit, hitting one of the wings. On the top of the X-Wing, Artoo began to chirp hurriedly.  
  
"I know, Artoo!" he exclaimed. "But I have to do this." More chirps. "You wanna do it?" Several loud bleeps. "You haven't changed." Anakin smiled. "Now, we just need to get rid of the other two."  
  
He twisted the control stick quickly and the X-wing began to spin quickly, sending one of the TIEs that flanked Vader's out of the way. "Spinning," he grinned. "Always thought that was a good trick." Just as he turned around to come at the fighters from behind he sensed a sudden darkness that sent a shiver down his spine. This was it. This was his future. If he ever found a way back home, no matter what he could do this what he would become.  
  
"Never," he whispered bitterly and set up for an attack run. "Not a chance..."  
  
Vader and the two fighters had reformed and were now heading down towards the trench. Anakin let rip. He began to move as fast as he could towards the middle fighter. He wasn't going to turn into that. He wasn't. Obi-Wan was right. He had no control.  
  
"You haven't learnt anything, Anakin!"  
  
His master's words rang through his brain as it appeared that he hadn't been noticed. He had learnt something. Sacrifice.  
  
He hit the trench at full speed just as a flash of light exploded overhead and another vessel appeared from hyperspace, colliding with one of the flanking fighters, sending Vader's spinning out of control into space. Anakin grabbed the controls one last time as he pulled back up hard. This was it. A manouvuer he hadn't pulled off since his podracing days but usually he didn't intend on crashing.  
  
He shot forward, speed increasing more and more each second. He moved his right hand to his side and held the lightsaber that was there, taken from the body of another Jedi. He was a Jedi too. He wasn't afraid of death. He'd be just like all those he'd seen sacrifice themselves in the arena. He'd do this. He would...  
  
He looked up once more. Vader hadn't seen him coming. The impact was just seconds away.  
  
There is no death, only the Force.  
  
  
END 


End file.
